kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Land and Marine Contracting Services (LMCS) construction supervisor Dexter Guerra admitted yesterday that if his company had removed the inflatable plug from Sealine No.36 from its top, a Differential Pressure (Delta) situation might not have happened.
However, Guerra said removing the migration barrier (mechanical and inflatable plugs) from inside the submerged Hyperbaric Chamber was part of the LMCS Method Statement approved by Paria Fuel Trading Company.
Guerra sustained heavy grilling from Paria’s counsel Gilbert Peterson, SC, when he underwent cross-examination at the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the Paria/LMCS tragedy at the International Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
Peterson told Guerra that LMCS removed the barrier on February 25 out of convenience.
LMCS removed its inflatable plug inside the 30-inch diameter pipeline while replacing a defective portion on the riser that triggered the Delta P event that sucked Christopher Boodram, Kazim Ali Jr, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Rishi Nagassar inside. Only Boodram survived the incident off Berth No.6 in the Pointe-a-Pierre harbour.
Peterson argued that the Toolbox Meeting form did not indicate the removal of the migration barrier on that day. However, Guerra said they discussed it at the meeting and that Kazim Ali Jr was supposed to add it. Deliberations showed that several other items were absent from the form.
During his testimony, Guerra said LMCS had to install a new riser which was longer than the defective portion they removed, as there was further work to replace the elbow pipe above water with a T-connection. He said that a T-connection was shorter than an elbow. Therefore, he said LMCS had to remove the plugs and install the new riser, and thereafter reinstall the plugs higher in the riser to conduct the other tasks.
But Peterson asked if that new portion of the riser was at the exact length required and if LMCS could have removed the plugs using a T-tool after installation. Guerra agreed that sometimes risers had precise measurements, and a crew could use the T-tool to remove the barrier.
He explained that the T-tool has a socket attached to a bar that they use to slacken the bolts from over the pipe and remove the migration barrier. He said they would then lift the hose and deflate the inflatable plug.
Peterson asked if a riser was above sea level, if there would be no occasion for a Delta P factor.
After some consideration, Guerra responded, “I would guess not.”
While LMCS would have to cut a portion of the new riser to connect the new fitting, Peterson suggested that the contractor could have also adjusted its tools to remove the barrier from above. He told Guerra the manufacturer sells an extended hose so workers could move further away and deflate the inflatable plug.
After some hesitation, Guerra admitted that he knew this.
“If you have to get a longer hose to safely deflate the plug to prevent the Delta P, you buy one. You ever heard about something colloquially called cutting corners or half-baked? I want to suggest to you that the plans that you all had developed on that Friday evening were half-baked. Friday evening, the rescue plans were half-baked, incomplete,” Peterson said.
However, Guerra contended that removing the barrier from the top of the riser would be difficult because the distance would be too far.
However, CoE chairman Jerome Lynch, KC, argued that they would have had to insert the plugs into the riser from the top before removing the defective portion of the riser.
Guerra estimated that after cutting the new riser to the requisite length, it would have been three-four feet taller than previously. He conceded that nothing prevented LMCS from extending the tool by three or four feet. However, he told Lynch that had they installed the new riser, the inflatable plug would be too far inside the pipe to remove from the top.
“I think somebody would have had to lean in or hold somebody by their foot to carry them into (the pipe),” Guerra said.
Guerra agreed with Peterson that the air quality in the chamber had to be pristine and that hydrocarbon entering would affect it. However, Guerra said oil has to be a particular temperature to emit fumes. He added that there was a vent in the chamber where they tested air quality at the surface. He said if the air quality changed, the divers would have got an alert.